Label attaching apparatus

Abstract

A package pricing apparatus includes a plurality of label issuing mechanisms, a plurality of label attaching mechanisms for attaching a plurality of labels to a commodity, an acquisition part for acquiring commodity information about the commodity, and a control part for controlling operations of the plurality of label attaching mechanisms. On the basis of the commodity information, the control part switches to a first mode in which all of the labels to be attached to the commodity are attached to the commodity by the plurality of label attaching mechanisms or a second mode in which some of the labels to be attached to the commodity are attached to the commodity by one of the label attaching mechanisms and the remaining labels are carried to a given position by the other label attaching mechanism.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. A label attaching apparatus for attaching labels to a commodity, the label attaching apparatus comprising:
 a plurality of label issuing mechanisms configured to issue the labels; 
 a plurality of label attaching mechanisms configured to attach the plurality of labels issued from the plurality of label issuing mechanisms to the commodity, the plurality of label attaching mechanisms including a first label attaching mechanism and a second label attaching mechanism; 
 an acquisition part configured to acquire commodity information about the commodity; 
 a control part configured to control operations of the plurality of label attaching mechanisms, such that the first label attaching mechanism and the second label attaching mechanism are movable in a leftward/rightward direction, and are movable in a forward/backward direction perpendicular to the leftward/rightward direction independently of one another other, and on the basis of the commodity information acquired by the acquisition part, the control part switches to a first mode in which all of the labels to be attached to the commodity are attached to the commodity by the both the first and second label attaching mechanisms or a second mode in which some of the labels to be attached to the commodity are attached to the commodity by only one of the first and second label attaching mechanisms and the remaining labels are carried to a given position by the other of the first and second label attaching mechanism; and 
 an announcement part configured to announce the switching to the second mode when the switching to the second mode is performed at the control part. 
 
     
     
       2. The label attaching apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein the control part determines, on the basis of the commodity information, whether or not the first label attaching mechanism and the second label attaching mechanism come within a given distance from each other, and switches to the second mode when the the first label attaching mechanism and the second label attaching mechanism come within the given distance from each other. 
     
     
       3. The label attaching apparatus according to  claim 1 , comprising:
 an input part configured to receive input for designating the commodity; and 
 a storage part configured to store the commodity information including the commodity, a size of the commodity, and attachment positions of the plurality of labels on the commodity, 
 wherein the acquisition part acquires the size and the attachment positions of the commodity from the storage part on the basis of the commodity input to the input part, and 
 the control part switches to the first mode or the second mode on the basis of the size and the attachment positions of the commodity acquired by the acquisition part. 
 
     
     
       4. The label attaching apparatus according to  claim 1 , comprising a detection part configured to detect a size of the commodity,
 wherein the acquisition part acquires the size of the commodity from a detected result of the detection part, acquires sizes of the labels issued from the plurality of label issuing mechanisms, and sets attachment positions of the plurality of labels on the commodity on the basis of the size of the commodity and the sizes of the labels, and 
 the control part switches to the first mode or the second mode on the basis of the attachment positions set by the acquisition part and the size of the commodity. 
 
     
     
       5. The label attaching apparatus according to  claim 4 , wherein:
 the detection part captures an image of the commodity; and 
 the acquisition part acquires the size of the commodity on the basis of the image captured by the detection part. 
 
     
     
       6. The label attaching apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein:
 the commodity is a tray and an article placed on the tray; and 
 the label attaching apparatus includes packaging units for packaging the tray and the articles.